1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of stethoscopes, and more particularly to stethoscopes that can be secured to a patient's body for extended periods of time.
2. Description of Related Art
The stethoscope is perhaps the most widely recognized medical instrument. Nevertheless, the stethoscope's commonality should not diminish its importance to the delivery of medical services. For example, during an operation it is critical to the anesthesiologist to closely monitor the patient's breathing and/or heart rate. Most often, auditory monitoring is performed by placing the stethoscope on the chest wall, which is known as precordial monitoring.
The prior art is filled with improvements to the stethoscope to better adapt it for use in a modern health care environment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,961 to Saltzman and U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,825 to Phelps, Sr. et al. both illustrate stethoscopes that use electronics to convert sound from the patient into radio signals that are transmitted for reception by a remote receiver. While these two patents illustrate highly sophisticated and expensive stethoscopes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,686 to Allen discloses a traditional stethoscope that is made entirely of plastic and can thus be disposed of after use to discourage the spread of disease. Still another improvement to the traditional stethoscope is an improved head that is more efficient at capturing sound from the patient's body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,382 to Katz describes a stethoscope where the head is constructed from a sea shell because of the shell's inherent ability to enhance the fidelity of any received sound.
While these inventions have all made valuable improvements to the stethoscope, there is still room for improvement in the art.